It's a little late so I'm not planning to be very eloquent tonight, but I thought I'd share some bits of scripture that have been especially meaningful to me lately. This has not been a particularly easy week for me...I'm weighed down by heavy burdens of several dear friends and I carry some burdens of my own. I've been thinking a lot about the battle of faith. It is a battle, no? Why of course it is. After all, we read, "fight the good fight of faith" in 1 Timothy 6:12. There would be nothing to fight, no battle, if faith was easy. The thing is, whenever I seem to be battling a particular something and therefore questioning things like God's sovereignty and infinite love, I find myself willing to believe in His promises. I have no choice but to believe and to cling to this belief...that is, I have staked my life on believing that God is love, that Jesus Christ has conquered death and put it to shame, that He was raised from the dead (!), and that, gosh darnit, He will come again! We say the nicene and/or apostle's creed multiple times a day in our home. Sometimes this feels rote, but sometimes it is so powerful because I am proclaiming to myself (again and again) what it is that I believe...this crazy thing we call the gospel. There is power in that! In fact, I believe that the devil shudders and cowers each time I proclaim what my Savior has done, is doing, and will do for me and indeed for all of humanity. Amen?
The words of the great prophet Isaiah have been a comfort to me this week. I like that the church fathers (the old guys my husband studies) call it the "fifth gospel". This makes sense to me.
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:28-31)
"Thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior..." (Isaiah 43:1-3)
"Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me..." (Isaiah 49:15-16)
All of 55 is amazing but here's a favorite clip: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55: 9-11)
I could go on, but I won't. I'm off to bed. I'm not sure who reads this blog, but if you are reading it, and if you are in the midst of battling faith, I hope these words of Isaiah, and indeed promises from Christ, will be an encouragement to you. Be assured that God is love, that Jesus Christ has conquered death and put it to shame, that He was raised from the dead (!), and that, gosh darnit, He will come again!
